Obesity in Refugees post-resettlement in a high-income country: a meta-analysis

Background Refugees have a high prevalence of obesity post resettlement, but few studies have compared their risk of obesity to those of the host population. We systematically investigated the association between refugee status and obesity after resettlement in a high-income nation. Methods We searched PubMed, Embase, OpenGrey and bibliographies of retrieved articles, with no date, location, and language restrictions, for observational studies assessing obesity rates in resettled refugees compared to the host population. Results Nine studies were analyzed. We found no evidence of increased risk of obesity among refugees compared to the host population, with significant heterogeneity across studies. However, the risk of obesity among refugee men were significantly lower than the host population. Discussion The heterogeneity between studies calls for more high-quality research to examine the risk of obesity among refugees compared to the host population in high-income countries. This will enable results to be pooled to provide more decisive evidence about obesity trends among refugees post migration in a high-income nation.